While living in a technological era comes with a huge range of benefits and conveniences, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Technology, if used too often can become addictive and detrimental to your child’s health.
While technology can be a great learning and entertainment tool for your kids, it’s important to balance their screen time with outdoor play and exploration. To help you understand the issue in more depth, here is some information from the staff at Creative Kids Child Care.
So, how much screen time is too much?
In the last decade there have been countless studies conducted to find the ideal screen time quotas for children. Most government and paediatric organisations recommend a maximum of 1 hour (60 minutes) of screen time each day for children under the age of 6, but thereafter they simply recommend consistent limits on screen time and sharing screen time as family.
Is there a better measure for screen time?
To the relief of many parents, recent research is suggesting that the length of screen time is less important than the nature of this screen time. A great way to think about this is in terms of digital nutrition. Instead of counting calories as you do in a diet, you should be more concerned with what’s on your plate (screen). Playing video games and watching tv shows is fine in moderation, but they should not be the only things your children are viewing or interacting with digitally.
How to I ensure healthy screen time?
There are hundreds of educational apps and games that can be used to enhance the cognitive development of your child. Screen time is also most effective if it doubles up as family time where parents and children can explore the digital world together.
Most importantly, you need to help your children find balance between their online and offline worlds. While completely denying children screen time can be detrimental, children still need ample time outdoors and away from screens.
At Creative Kids Child Care we place a great importance on fresh air and enjoying the outdoors of the Gold Coast. We give the children in our child care a variety of experiences to develop their sense of curiosity, creativity and discovery.
